Residents of Adamawa State living in communities near the River Benue, which are susceptible to flooding, are calling for the dredging of the river to mitigate flood risks. They are also urging the completion of the long-abandoned Dasin Hausa Dam project, which was initiated in 1982. This call aims to prevent flooding that often results from the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in the Republic of Cameroon.
Communities situated around the River Benue and its tributaries in Fufore, Yola South, Girei, and Numan local government areas expressed their concerns during a sensitization and training session on climate change conducted by the African Activists for Climate Change Justice (AACJ) and the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), commonly known as HEDA Resource Centre.
Sulaimon Arigbabu, the Executive Secretary of HEDA Resource Centre, clarified to each visited community that the purpose of their visit was to raise awareness about flood preparedness and resilience and to collect their views and needs for transmission to the relevant authorities.
During the outreach program, titled ‘Amplifying the Voices of Climate Frontier Communities,’ the host communities, predominantly consisting of farmers, emphasized the importance of constructing the Dasin Hausa Dam and dredging the River Niger to mitigate flooding.
Alhaji Sa’ad Muhammad, the Ward Head of Wuro-chekke in Rugange Community, Yola South Local Government Area (LGA), emphasized that the failure to complete the dam project had left Nigeria in a state of panic whenever Cameroonian authorities announced plans to release water from their Lagdo Dam, resulting in devastating floods in the area.
Kabiru Abba, a resident of the area, shared his plight, revealing that he had lost his farm and was living in poverty after the last flood wreaked havoc on his farmland.
In Dasin Hausa, where the abandoned dam project is located, the community leader, Shitu Ahmodu, stressed the significance of completing the project and dredging the surrounding rivers to effectively address recurrent flooding issues.
Chief Imyaleyo Bulus, the Assistant Village Head of Imburu Community in Numan LGA, suggested that the Federal Government should prioritize the removal of sand from the River Benue. He explained that the river’s shallow depth, due to the accumulation of sand, causes water to overflow into neighboring communities, causing harm to people and their property whenever there is even a modest increase in water levels, whether from rainfall or other sources.